Polymenorrhea is defined as cyclic bleeding, with cycles being reduced to less than

21 days and remaining constant at that frequency. If the frequent cycle is associated with

excessive and / or prolonged bleeding, it is called epimenorrhagia.

Metrorrhagia is defined as irregular, acyclic bleeding, with variable amount of

bleeding.

Oligomenorrhea is defined as cyclic bleeding occurring more than 35 days apart,

which remains constant at that frequency.

Hypomenorrhea is defined as menstrual bleeding which is unduly scanty and lasts

for less than 2 days.

Heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) is defined as bleeding that interferes with the

woman's physical, emotional, social and maternal quality of life.

Abnormal uterine bleeding

Any uterine bleeding outside the parameters of normal volume, duration, regularity or

frequency is considered as abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB). Abnormal uterine bleeding

patterns have been expressed by terms like menorrhagia, metrorrhagia, polymenorrhea and

oligomenorrhea.1

A universally accepted nomenclature by International Federation of Gynecology

and Obstetrics (FIGO) and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

(ACOG) known by the acronym PALM-COEIN (FIGO-2011) has been introduced to

classify abnormal uterine bleeding on the basis of etiology.1,6,7